Tag: Hyper-v market share

Since the emergence of vSphere 6.0, I would like to write an article on vSphere 6.0 vs Windows Server 2012 R2. I collected vSphere 6.0 features from few blogs and VMware community forum. Note that vSphere 6.0 is in beta program which means VMware can amend anything before final release. New functionalities of vSphere 6.0 beta are already available in Windows Server 2012 R2. So let’s have a quick look on both virtualization products.

In 1852 Karl Marx published “The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon”. In his book, Karl Marx quotes “that history repeats itself, “the first as tragedy, then as farce”, referring respectively to Napoleon I and to his nephew Louis Napoleon (Napoleon III).

Here I am not talking about Karl Marx, I am not a specialist on this matter. I am a computer geek. So Why I am refer to Karl Marx? I believe above remarks can be connected to a history between Microsoft and Novell.

So the question is; can Microsoft defeat VMware? Can Microsoft make history again? Here is why I believe Microsoft will make history once again regardless what VMware fan boy think. Let start….

What’s New in Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V

Microsoft has traditionally put out point releases to its server operating systems about every two years. Windows Server operating systems is no longer a traditional operating systems. This is cloud OS in true terms and uses. Let’s see what’s new in Windows Server 2012 R2 in terms of virtualization.

· New Generation 2 Virtual Machines

· Automatic Server OS Activation inside VMs

· Upgrade and Live Migration Improvements in Windows Server 2012 R2

· Online VHDX Virtual Disk Resize

· Live VM Export and Clone

· Linux Guest V Enhancements

· Storage Quality of Service ( QoS )

· Guest Clustering with Shared VHDXs

· Hyper-V Replica Site-to-Site Replication Enhancements

Generation 2 VMs

Hyper-V in Windows Server 2012 R2 supports the concept of a totally new architecture based on modern hardware with no emulated devices. This makes it possible to add a number of new features, such as secure boot for VMs and booting off of virtual SCSI or virtual network adapters.

VM Direct Connect

In Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V with the addition of VM Direct Connect allows a direct remote desktop connection to any running VM over what’s now called the VM bus. It’s also integrated into the Hyper-V management experience.

Extend replication to a third site

Hyper-V Replica in Windows Server 2012 is currently limited to a single replication target. This makes it difficult to support scenarios like a service provider wanting to act both as a target for a customer to replicate and a source to replicate to another offsite facility. Windows Server 2012 R2 and Hyper-V now provide a tertiary replication capability to support just such a scenario. By the same token, enterprises can now save one replica in-house and push a second replica off-site.

Compression for faster migration

Two new options in Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V help improve the performance of live migrations. The first is the ability to enable compression on the data to reduce the total number of bytes transmitted over the wire. The obvious caveat is that tapping CPU resources for data compression could potentially impact other operations, so you’ll need to take that into consideration. The second option, SMB Direct, requires network adapters that support RDMA. Microsoft’s advice: If you have 10 GB available, use RDMA (10x improvement); otherwise, use compression (2x improvement). Compression is the default choice and it works for the large majority of use cases.

Online VM exporting and cloning

It’s now possible to export or clone a running VM from System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012 R2 with a few mouse clicks. As with pretty much anything related to managing Windows Server 2012, you can accomplish the same task using Windows PowerShell.

Online VHDX resizing

In Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V, it is not possible to resize a virtual hard disk attached to a running VM. Windows Server 2012 R2 removes this restriction, making it possible to not only expand but even reduce the size of the virtual disk (VHDX format only) without stopping the running VM.

Storage QoS

Windows Server 2012 R2 includes the ability to limit individual VMs to a specific level of I/O throughput. The IOPS are measured by monitoring the actual disk rate to and from the attached virtual hard drives. If you have applications capable of consuming large amounts of I/O, you’ll want to consider this setting to ensure that a single I/O-hungry VM won’t starve neighbor VMs or take down the entire host.

Dynamic Memory support for Linux

In the Windows Server 2012 R2 release, Hyper-V gains the ability to dynamically expand the amount of memory available to a running VM. This capability is especially handy for any Linux workload (notably Web servers) where the amount of memory needed by the VM changes over time. Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V also brings Windows Server backups to Linux guests.

Shared VHDX

With Windows Server R2 Hyper-V, Windows guest clusters (think traditional Windows Server failover clustering but using a pair of VMs) no longer require an iSCSI or Fibre Channel SAN, but can be configured using commodity storage: namely a shared VHDX file stored on a Cluster Shared Volume. Note that while the clustered VMs can be live migrated as per usual, a live storage migration of the VHDX file requires one of the cluster nodes to be taken offline.

Bigger Bang for the Buck: Licensing Windows Server 2012 R2

The Windows Server 2012 R2 product is streamlined and simple, making it easy for customers to choose the edition that is right for their needs.

Hyper-v is not the same as you knew in Windows Server 2008. To clear fog of your mind about Hyper-v, the following table shows the improvement Microsoft has made over the years.

Comparing VMware with Windows Server 2012 R2

While VMware still number one in Hypervisor markets but the Redmond giant can also leverage on almost a billion Windows OS user globally, as well as its expertise in software and a robust range of services (including Azure, Bing, MSN, Office 365, Skype and many more). A new battle ground is ready between Microsoft and VMware would make 2014 a pivotal hybrid cloud year. The hybrid cloud could indeed give Microsoft the chance to prevail in ways that it couldn’t with the launch of Hyper-V; Hyper-V’s market share has been gradually increasing since early 2011. According to Gartner, Microsoft gained 28% Hypervisor market share last year.

Microsoft is leveraging its service provider expertise and footprint for Azure development while extending Azure into data centers on Windows servers. That gives Microsoft access to most if not all of the world’s data centers. It could become a powerhouse in months instead of years. Widespread adoption of Microsoft Azure platform gives Microsoft a winning age against competitor like VMware.

On premises client install Windows Azure pack to manage their system center 2012 R2 and use Azure as self-service and administration portal for IT department and department within organization. To gain similar functionality in VMware you have to buy vCloud Director, Chargeback and vShield separately.

Conclusion:

This is a clash of titanic proportion in between Microsoft and VMware. Ultimately end user and customer will be the winner. Both companies are thriving for new innovation in Hypervisor and virtualization market place. End user will enjoy new technology and business will gain from price battle between Microsoft and VMware. These two key components could significantly increase the adoption of hybrid cloud operating models. Microsoft has another term cards for cloud service provider which is Exchange 2013 and Lync 2013. Exchange 2013 and Lync 2013 are already widely used for Software as a Service (SaaS). VMware has nothing to offer in Messaging and collaboration platform. Microsoft could become for the cloud what it became for the PC. It could enforce consistency across clouds to an extent that perhaps no other player could. As the cloud shifts from infrastructure to apps, Microsoft could be in an increasingly powerful position and increase Hyper-v share even further by adding SaaS to its product line. History will repeat once again when Microsoft defeat VMware as Microsoft defeated Novell eDirectory, Corel WordPerfect and IBM Notes.

Previously I wrote a blog on comparing price and features of Hyper-v and VMware. I got lot of feedback and questions why I believe Microsoft will win the battle. Here is a short answer for this question.

Living in mining city of Australia, its truth that most mining, oil and gas company isn’t adopting Microsoft Hyper-v yet excluding Fortescue Metals (FMG). FMG took a smart decision to go for Microsoft cloud than any other cloud technology. But wind is shifting quickly. Not just mining, oil and gas companies. Here are other examples: ING Direct case study and Suncorp Bank case study. There is nothing to hide that Microsoft came late to Hypervisor game. Slowly but surely Microsoft is gaining momentum.

I worked in almost 15 years now. I have seen in many occasions that Microsoft crashes its opponent and gain market in their own business. This is what happening in Hypervisor battle. Let’s be honest VMware is THE leader in virtualization. I am sure there are skeptics who believe, beating VMware isn’t possible. Those skeptics betted their money on Novell Netware, IBM Lotus Notes and Corel Word Perfect in those days. If I had told you in year 2000 that Active Directory would beat Novell e-directory, you would have burst out of laugh. But now there’s nothing to comment on this. By now you rarely see and work e-directory, word perfect or lotus notes. These examples says it all. VMware’s fate is written when Microsoft released Windows Server 2012, Hyper-v Server 2012 and System Center 2012. By the next Windows, Hyper-v and System Center release VMware may extinct.

If you need more evidence then you can find Microsoft’s Oil and Gas customer’s success stories on Microsoft View Point.